More Twists Then A Bag Of Pretzels
by Marie S Zachary
Summary: While Eva is in the hospital she and Juan remember their life together. What is causing her illness? Will she recover?
1. 26 July 1952

Disclaimer: I don't own Evita

* * *

Present day

Eva could feel herself beginning to sway. Her heart was pumping faster then a terrified rabbit. Her palms were sweaty and clammy. She felt dizzy and had to hold onto the chair to keep herself from collapsing. She tried to stay focused but it was **not** happening. Everything ached from her stomach to her back from her head to her toes. She could hardly breathe let alone concentrate. She could see Juan was talking but all she could make out was the pounding of the blood in her ears. Why was this happening? Was she trying to do too much too soon? Something told her this wasn't a simple panic attack.

"I have to get some air," she said... or rather she **tried **to say. She couldn't get a word out. Her brain simply could not make her body comply.

"Eva," Juan exclaimed.  
He was very concerned about her. It was obvious something was not right. She heard him scream her name. _Rise and stay steady _she told herself silently. Nothing was making any sense at all. She grasped the chair but it could no longer hold her weight. Slowly she started to fall. Juan caught her in his arms, gently moved her down to the floor and elevated her legs.

"MEETING ADJORNED," he said, "Cancel all of my engagements of today. YOU call in ambulance. She may need care on the way to the hospital. YOU are in charge until I say otherwise."  
The last thing Eva heard before she passed out was Juan calling her name over and over again. Then there was darkness. Nothingness.


	2. For Evita

Juan's point of view

I met Eva in 1944. It took me less the thirty seconds to figure out that I loved her. She had a certain kindness in her eyes.

_Juan was mingling at the concert when he saw Eva. She came up to him. She had a shy smile.  
"Cornel Peron," she asked in a soft melodious voice. _

Oh that voice was heaven. Eva could charm the devil into changing his ways to good.  
_"Eva Duarte," he replied in greeting to tell her he knew who she was.  
__"I heard so much about you," they both said together. They talked for several hours about everything under the sun. _

Eva shared a lot with me that night. I learned about how she grew up in a family that was rich with love but poor with money. She had 4 older sisters and an older brother. Her oldest sister was named Alejandra. She was 7 years older then Eva. Alejandra Eva had said was more then her older sister. She was her best friend. _ "Alejandra raised me in many ways," Eva explained, "Our mamma always had to work to care for us. Alejandra was there to get us through the every day struggles and share in the good times. Mamma often had no choice but to leave her in charge while she worked."_

Eva really loved and respected her sister. She trusted her 100%. I too had an older sister so I could absolutely relate to her feelings for her sister.  
_"Funny thing," she told me, "My brother who is five years older then me... his name is also Juan just like yours." He chuckled.  
"Well it is a common name," he said, "I was named after my father. Juan Peron the first. My sister was named Junita."  
"That's my mother's name," she said laughing, "and my father's name is Juan."  
"Sounds like you know a lot of people with that name," he said.  
_After Alejandra and Juan came her twin sisters. Margarita and Magdalena who were as Eva described more childish then her. She went on to describe the pranks her sisters used to pull.  
_"I will never forget one time they put a snake in Juan's bed," she said laughing, "He got so scared and mamma lectured them for twenty-five minutes. The next day they made him breakfast to apologize but they had put a bug in his glass of milk." _

We laughed about that. Then she told me about her youngest older sister who was only 2 years older then her. Eva's eyes grew sad when she told me the story.  
_"My sister Mayra was paralyzed for 4 years," Eva told him _

_He reached for _Eva hand

_"What caused that," Juan asked, "Forgive me if I'm being bold."  
"You're not being bold," Eva said with a sad smile though her eyes were moist with tears, "Mayra was my best friend growing up. She was only two years older then me. It happened when she was six and I was four. Mayra was riding her pony. She had taken me with her at mamma's permission. Alejandra was riding behind us. We rode into the park. Now in the park there was a statue of one of the presidents... I really don't remember which one. Well Mayra's pony went **out of control **and somehow the statue got broken." _

_Juan shrugged.  
"Okay," he said, "It was an accident. Was she hurt when the pony knocked down the statue."  
"In a way," Eva said, "The governor happened to have been there that day and he was well not a very nice man. He had her sent to the whip. Can you believe it? A six year old subject to public whipping and humiliation. I screamed. She was my sister and I had to witness that monstrosity..." _

Eva's voice broke. I felt an instant need to hug her and took the chance. She welcomed it. I could tell she was angry about what her sister had been through and rightfully so. I wouldn't say so at the time because I felt it would be disrespectful but I knew already that Eva was different then any other woman I had been with. For most women it was a hurried night... a frantic tumble and then a shy goodbye. Eva softened me.

_Her voice softened slightly.  
"The thunderbolt whip struck Mayra twenty-seven times. The first lash caused her back to be torn open and for her to scream and sob in pain. At one point the whip missed her back and wrapped around her stomach. My sister was in such bad shape she was in the hospital for several months. We almost lost her. Mayra still finds it painful to walk." _

Then Eva said something that would be the first time but definitely not the last time I would hear her say it. She would say it a number of times on different occasions and I always melted. Eva was both my strength and my weakness. It doesn't matter what you call it. She was the light that guided me. She was the one making the decisions. Even when we disagreed somehow I would always understand her way of thinking and I would end up doing what she thought was right. Eva's words to me that day are words that I will never forget.  
_"Right then and there," she told him, "I told myself if I ever was in the position to stop anything like this from ever happening again the whip would never touch another person ever again. If I ever could I would put a stop to everything that hurts people and replace it with things that lifted people up. I would replace it with things that were helpful and good." He didn't say a word. He just took her hand and kissed it._


	3. What A Circus

Eva's point of view  
The pain is gone. The fear is gone. I feel like I'm floating. Suddenly I'm not who I was. I am floating somewhere between life and death. Even though I can't breathe I feel like I can. Earlier I felt a fear that I had only felt once in my life. It was a fear that will later make sense. It isn't time for me to go yet. I know that and I feel the kind of relief that comes after a long and bad day fades away. I can't see anything but I know Juan is there by my side. I know he loves me. I knew he'd never let me fall. That was how our relationship always was. I was never a means to an end. He loved me and we were one and the same... part of each other. I was never a title. I was never a purpose. I was the person he loved. He always listened to me. He always did what was important to me. That will also make sense later on.  
I can suddenly feel again. Juan takes my hand. He kisses my forehead. I can't hear what he is saying but I can feel his love. I know he is talking. I feel myself sliding into memories.  
_It was October. Eva noticed that her husband seemed distracted lately. Something was definitely on her husband's mind. Eva decided to cheer him up. She knew just how to do it also. She knew he had been having a rough time and he was still hurting a little from everything he'd been through the past 4 days. She smiled. As they were having dinner she leaned forward and whispered to him, "meet me in our room 20 minutes after dinner. I have a big surprise for you."  
His eyes lit up. He nodded._

"Let's skip dinner and go right to the surprise," he said laughing.  
She laughed as well.

Something cold is being put on my stomach. I can feel it but it doesn't hurt. Pain is a thing of the past. There is rushing about. There is a montage of things going on but my memory drifts back to that October night.

_"I know I haven't been myself lately," Eva said softly._

"It's understandable," he said, "There's been a lot going on in your life. I'm sorry I've been so distracted the past few days. I just... well you know."  
"I know," she said softly, "Maybe we could forget about the last few days. I think it's been a lot for both of us to deal with. Are you going to..."

"I... you've been overwhelmed," he said cupping her face in his hands, "You need to slow down a little. Don't forget what happened the last time."

"But I'm-"

"First and foremost you are the woman I love," he told her, "and I cannot have you stressing yourself like that. I almost lost you once. I **will not **let that happen again."

"Okay," she said, "I'll slow down a little."  
He smiled.

"Well that's something anyway," he said.

"But if I slow down too much who'll take care of what I need to do," she added.

"HELLO," he said, "RIGHT OVER HERE."

"So you would take on my load as well as yours," she asked with a chuckle.

"Been doing it since I fell in love with you," he said reaching out and kissing her on the lips, "I am glad to take the load off of you even if it is put onto me."

"Doesn't that make me a failure though. It took me so long to accomplish what I accomplished and now I can't even do it."

"No Eva," he said, "You have never been nor will you ever be a failure. You've held me up when I was down. Now I can do the same for you."

It never occurred to me that the reason Juan was distracted was due to his concern about me. I really thought it was because of something he was going through. Juan knew that I was slowing down and he wasn't upset by that. He wasn't disappointed in me. He loved me. I was supposed to be carrying my own load and helping him carry his. Instead he was carrying my load as well as his own and he had no objections to that. Come to think of it he never treated me as though he were better then me. He always asked my opinion any time there was a decision to be made. I always had the first and last say.

_"I still have a great surprise for you," she said laughing, "and it's a fun surprise."_

"Most of your surprises are," he said with a smile.  
She got up.

"Meet me upstairs in the bedroom," she said, "in 20 minutes."  
She then skipped off.  
Juan patiently waited as he was instructed to do. Finally after twenty minutes was up he went into their bedroom. As he walked in he found Eva wearing nothing but his presidential sash."

"What are you doing," he asked with a grin.

"Use your imagination," Eva told him seductively.  
Juan grinned.

"Okay I love where this is going," he said.

"I guess this means that for now I'm the president and you are the first husband," she teased.

"Ah," he said laughing, "Well that doesn't make much of a difference anyway since you pretty much tell me what to do and I do what you say," he added jokingly.

"That happened like maybe 3 times," Eva said, "and all of those times I have very good reasons for telling you what to do."  
She took off the sash.

"And now," she said, "I am officially off duty."  
She attacked him with kisses.


	4. On This Night

Juan paced the waiting room. Normally he didn't mind waiting. There was one time in fact that he had to wait for 45 minutes because Eva had to get on her makeup and do her hair. He had been fine with that kind of waiting. This was not waiting he was okay with. His wife was in the hospital after passing out for seemingly no reason. He was able to spend some time with her but then Eva's brother, JD had told him she needed her rest. She seemed to have some kind of infection and could not be exposed to germs. He had to wear scrubs and a surgical mask when he came in. She still wasn't conscious. It was killing him that he couldn't kiss her or hold her hand. Even as she was sleeping it looked like she was in pain.

JD came out to speak to him about a half an hour later.

"Eva is a mess," JD said bluntly, "She is not doing well at all."

Sí, me imaginé que fuera a su muerte," Juan replied.

"Well there are basically three things wrong," JD said, "She has an infection from a scar opening up from the time when she was four. Her heart is weakened and only functioning at 20% and she's pregnant."

Yes I know this is a short chapter but in the next chapter you'll find out how she got hurt and several other pertinent things.

What Juan was saying was, "Yes I figured that out when she passed out"

JD is also a doctor that's why he's treating Eva


End file.
